Current Courses (Fall 2017)

HIS 81: Science and Technology in the Early Modern World In this course we will read the work of some of the mostfamous names in the history of science, including Copernicus, Vesalius, Galileo, Descartes, Boyle and Newton in order to understand why these figures have so often been called revolutionary and why many recent historians have rejected that same label. Natural philosophers in the early modern period put the earth in motion, united terrestrial and celestial physics, and rejected the received wisdom of ancient authorities. Along with new models of the body and of the cosmos came a new role for mathematics in natural philosophy, an emphasis on experiment as a reliable means of gaining knowledge and an insistence by many scholars on mechanical explanations of natural phenomena. We will ask how these changes were connected and whether we can unite them into one coherent intellectual and/or social movement. We will ask whether there was any such thing as “The Scientific Revolution.”

STS 190: Senior Integrative Seminar. Students read and discuss seminal and provocative works in STS. Each student conducts an independent research project in an area of interest resulting in a final paper and an oral presentation.

​Other Courses Taught

HSA 10: Science, Gender, Sex (First Year Seminar) HSA 10 is designed to build on the writing skills developed in WRIT 1 through a deeper exploration of one particular topic in the humanities, social sciences and the arts. This section of HSA 10 explores the history of scientific accounts of sex difference from the late nineteenth century to the present. In particular we will pay attention to the relationship between social roles and cultural beliefs about gender on the one hand and scientific accounts of sex on the other. As historians, we will ask whether it is possible to untangle biological theories of sex difference from cultural accounts of gender.

HIS 82: Science and Technology in the Modern World An examination of several important episodes in the history of chemistry, biology, physics and medicine from the late 18th to mid 20th centuries. We will pay particular attention to moments of discovery and controversy, looking for debates over evidence, methodology and ethics in scientific practice. Topics include Darwinian evolution, Einstein's relativity, scientific medicine and the discovery of the structure of DNA.

HIS 150: Technology and Medicine (Writing Intensive) This course explores the increasingly technological nature of medicine in the 19th and 20th centuries. The introduction of new medical technologies has often sparked anxiety, with patients and doctors expressing concern over the efficacy and safety of new machines as well as the threat posed to patients’ privacy and to patients’ rights as bodies have come under increasing surveillance. Doctors have worried about the loss of their clinical skills and have questioned their ability to control and understand these new instruments. Scholars have asked what effect these technologies have had on the doctor-patient relationship, on changing concepts of disease and on doctors’ professional identities. We will explore these questions through a series of historical case studies examining the history and use of the stethoscope, x-rays, and MRI, among others.

HIS 151: Science in Fiction (Writing Intensive) Novels and short stories in which scientists play a central part provide a fascinating glimpse into the public perception of science. These texts can inhabit multiple roles, reflecting and perhaps helping to shape the goals and values of scientists, but often also offering critiques of those same values. As a class, we will read a selection of novels spanning the 19th and 20th centuries in which the practice of science is fundamental to the stories being told. As historians, we will begin each text assuming we know nothing about the culture of science in the period in which it was written and we will work to tease out clues and questions about that culture as we read. Novels include Frankenstein, Island of Dr. Moreau, Arrowsmith and Flight Behavior.

HIS 152: History of Modern PhysicsIn this course we will investigate some of the key discoveries, personalities and institutions of physics in the last two hundred years. We will examine the extent of the rift between 19th C physics and the new theories of relativity and quantum physics in the early 20th C, asking whether the labels “classical” and “modern” are useful to our historical understanding. We will look as well at the role of physicists working on the atomic bomb project, the experiences of women in physics, changing cultural perceptions of physics and the relationship of physics to the other sciences.

HIS 179: Communicating ScienceThis course examines the ways in which science has been written, performed and displayed for non-specialist audiences from the early 19th C to today. Looking at different genres of communication including books, museum exhibits, newspapers, documentaries and science blogs, we will ask how boundaries have been drawn around professional science. How have different modes of communication shaped certain expectations about the authority and scope of science, about what kinds of questions scientists get to ask, and about who gets to be a scientist? We will look at moments in which scientific debate has spilled out of formal peer-reviewed journals, as scientists reach out to non-specialist audiences for support and we will look for resistance and appropriation from those audiences who have been much more than passive readers.

WRIT 1: Introduction to Academic WritingThis course is an intensive reading, thinking, and writing seminar required of all first-year students.